With You
by EmDe
Summary: Takes place right after book 13 and Tobias must explain his choice to the other Animorphs,


Author's Note: I always thought that many important scences in some of the books were left out. This happend most commonly with Tobia stories, which were always my favorite. I tried my best to remove any typos but I'm sure one or two got through so just bear with me. I hope you like the story and please review.

**With You**

"Hi, Rachel" I said with a human voice.

She kept on starring a hole through me. Her mouth hung open and moved slightly, like she was trying to say something but couldn't make a sound. Then I saw something that really surprised me. I saw tears forming in Rachel's eyes.

Rachel doesn't cry.

Rachel _never_ cries.

"Go tell the others," I said "meet at the barn tonight. I'll explain everything."

Rachel didn't move. It was like she was stone.

"Go, you'll miss your big night," I said, then as an afterthought, "Congratulations".

Rachel nodded her head and then turned slowly and walked away. I quickly left the building. I was feeling a little claustrophobic. The sun was beginning to set. My hawk eyes weren't very good in the dark. I had a couple hours to kill. I found a safe place to demorph. I spread my wings and flew off in search of dinner.

I flew back to my meadow, I like it there. It was mine, it was home. It felt good to be back in my hawk body, although I had only been human for a short time. I felt comfortable in this body. I felt safe. I'd never felt safe as Tobias the human.

As I flew I thought about the others, I knew what they would say. They would want me to stay in human morph for more then two hours. I would be trapped. I'd never have my laser-sharp hawk eyes. I wouldn't have my wings.

I'd never feel the wind pass over my body as I flew miles up in the air.

I would be stuck in my own body. My old body.

A flash of brown suddenly caught my eye and I flew in a circle to get a better look. I saw the individual blades of grass. I saw them ripple one by one. It was a relief to have these eyes back; I'd almost been blind as a human. I saw the mouse quickly stick its head up and peer over the grass. I swooped down fast.

"Tseeeeer!" I screamed and raked my talons forward. I grabbed the mouse and squeezed, killing it instantly.

I flew back to my tree and I ate the mouse. I'd been eating this way for a long time. The hawk in me craved the feeling of the warm blood on its beak. The human in me was still slightly revolted. I ate my dinner quietly and then I made a few circles around my meadow. I wanted to make sure no one was trying to invade my territory. When I was done I took off towards the barn. I knew what the others would say.

I knew what my answer would be.

As I flew I carried a bag filled with some clothes. They had to be light so my hawk body could carry them. I never had a morphing outfit like the others, so when I morphed to human I would be completely naked. I would have to work some minimal amount of clothing into my human morph.

I saw lights on in the barn as I flew towards it. I landed outside instead of going to my usual perch in the rafters. I wanted to make an entrance. I could hear them all talking. Most people don't know that hawks have excellent hearing.

"You're sure it was him, Rachel?" Jake asked. "You're sure it was Tobias?"

"Of course I'm sure" Rachel snapped back.

"You're positive you didn't imagine him?" Marco suggested.

"For the thousandth time I saw him!" Rachel yelled "It was Tobias."

I'd heard enough, I focused my mind on the human DNA inside me. This was only the second time I'd morphed to human; the changes still caught me by surprise. The first thing changed was my head. I felt my beak go soft and limp and be sucked back into my head. My mouth formed and my teeth filled in. my incredible hawk eyes suddenly dimmed and the distances became less and less focused. My face bones grew wider and my nose formed out of what was left of my beak. The feathers on my face were slowly sucked backed in, while the feathers on top of my head were replaced by my soft, dirty blond hair. I was now a creature with the fully formed head of a human and the body of a hawk.

Little ironic, don't you think?

I suddenly shot straight up in the air as the hollow bird legs were replaced by sold human bones. My talons grew soft and changed colors before they split in human toes. The feathers on my body made a weird sound the as they quickly turned to flesh. The last thing that changed was my wings. The bones became elongated and formed human fingers. Then the feathers were slowly absorbed my arms and were replaced my pink skin. I was now completely human.

I suddenly felt very cold and went over to the bag. I pulled out the clothes I brought. Not much, just a t-shirt, shorts and a pair of shoes. I dressed quickly and practiced using my mouth. It had been a while since I had used actual sounds to talk. My voice sounded weak, it was like learning to speak all over again. I was ready, I started to head for the door but then I hesitated. What would change? What would they all expect from me now? I actually considered flying away and letting them think what ever they wanted. They would think that Rachel had imagined everything. They would say all this talk of me and the Elimist was making her see things. But I couldn't do that. Not to Rachel. We had been through too much together, and talked too much for me to let the other think she had made the whole thing up. I knew Rachel would never believe it didn't happen. She would never forgive me. I took a deep breath, opened the door and walked into the barn.

The first thing I noticed was that everything was a lot dimmer then it was before. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. The others didn't even notice me, they were still arguing. Then I saw Ax, in his Andalite form. I wondered why I hadn't heard his thought-speak. But then I realized he hadn't known I was there so his wasn't directing it to me. His was staring at me, and with four eyes he can really stare. Then I saw his tail blade rise up and point to towards me. He was ready to cut me in half!

Prince Jake! Ac said urgently, An unknown male had just entered!

Unknown male?

Oh yeah, me. Ax had never seen me in my human body. I was trapped as a hawk before we rescued from his crashed Dome Ship at the bottom of the ocean. I was almost glad I hadn't gone at that mission. I don't do so well with water.

"What!" Jake said "Who-". Then his stopped talking because he saw me. His eyes went wide. What is it with the wide eyes?

I looked around and saw everyone in various stages of shock. Cassie was holding a goose that was squawking and flapping wildly, but she didn't seem to notice it anymore. Marco was about to fall off the bale of hay he was sitting on. I wished he would, just to break the silence. Jake was standing near Ax, who was still ready to slice and dice me before I could blink.

Then there was Rachel.

Sweet, beautiful Rachel. She looked just has shocked now as she did at ceremony. No one moved, no one made a sound. It was like they thought I would vanish if they did. Rachel was the first to do something.

She ran towards me and threw her arms around me in a tight hug. I was so surprised I thought I was going to fall right on my butt. But I didn't. I just held her tight. After a good fifteen seconds of this I tried to loosen her grip, but her arms were like steel. I was aware of the others still staring. I tried to move again and I got the same result.

"Rachel," I whispered. "It's okay. You can let go."

"No," She whispered back. "If I let go you might leave me again."

Then I almost _did_ fall right on my butt. Rachel had never been a very emotional person. I never thought she would… care this much.

"I promise I'm not going anywhere." I whispered, still surprised.

Then she let go and took a step back. She had tears coming out of her eyes. Very un-Rachel. I looked around again, everyone was still statue. It was Ax the broke the silence.

Prince Jake, who is this? He asked, he still didn't know who I was.

"It's Tobias" Jake said. It sounded like he didn't believe what he was saying,

"How?" Marco asked. His mind was already going over all the possibilities.

"The Ellimist" I answered.

"That's great!" Rachel exploded. "He did keep his promise to you. Now that you're human again you can have a normal life, or at least as normal as it gets with us. You can go back to school, but we'll have to find a place for you to live. You can't just show up at your uncle's door after being gone for all this time…"

She just kept going on and on. I had to stop her. I couldn't let her believe I was fully human again.

"Rachel," I said, no response, she just kept talking. I raised my voice. "Rachel!"

Now she stopped. I saw the look on her face. She knew I was hiding something.

"What Tobias?" Rachel asked softly, "What's wrong?"

"The Ellimist came to me last night. He did this weird time warp thing. He brought me to my bedroom the night before we walked through the construction site." I paused and took a deep breath. This would be the hard part. "I was there. The old me. I was in my hawk body looking at myself as a human. I… I acquired the DNA of my human body. The me you see is a morph. I'm still a hawk."

Cassie looked so sad at that moment, Jake and Marco and one those 'of course" looks, like they knew it was too good to be true. Rachel was absolutely heart broken. She was really crying now. I didn't like to see Rachel cry. Once again it was Ax who broke the silence.

Ellimists, he said. All they do is play tricks.

Cassie looked up suddenly. "But if your body is just a morph, you could stay over the two hour limit and be human again."

Rachel's face lit up. Like this was exactly the right thing to do. Why did Cassie have to bring that up? Why couldn't thy just except the fact that I was still a bird and leave it at that?

"I could," I said slowly, "But I won't. I'm tired of having to stay behind, of just waiting to know if you all are going to come back alive. I can help you now. I can be a full member of the team. I won't give that up."

Now Cassie was crying, even Marco and Jake were a little watery eyed. I guess my speech really go to them. I felt dampness on my cheeks and realized that I was crying to, I hadn't cried in a long time.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

"Yes I am," I answered. "Look at the bright side. I can be a human, even if it's only for two hours at a time. I can do human things again things again. I can do normal stuff with you guys. Maybe someday when the Andalites come, I'll be human again. But for now, I'm with you."

Jake came over and put his hand on my shoulder. "We're glad your back, man. We're glad your back."

Then Marco spoke up. "So what do you want to do with your first two hours a human?"

"I have a few ideas." I said with a smile.

Twenty minutes later, I was standing with my stomach do flips. I had thought, no _fantasized_ about this almost every day since I was trapped. Although I could try this as hawk, it could only be truly experience as a human. They were so beautiful. The Golden Arches. The six of us walked in side and the smell of everything McDonalds came to me. My knees trembled.

"Okay," Jake said taking the orders, "two McChickens for Marco and Rachel, two cheeseburgers for Ax and me, one McVeggie for Cassie, and for Tobias a Big Mack with fries."

"Don't the buns," Ax said in human morph, "bun-zuh."

"They come with the meat Ax."

"Oh."

We sat down at one of the tables and tried to have a normal conversation while we waited for the food. Every minute seemed like forever. Then I when I felt like I couldn't wait another second Jake came with the tray and passed the food around. I handle my Big Mac like it was a bomb that could go off at any second. I carefully took it out of the box. They were all waiting for me to take a bite. I sunk me teeth in and let the sensations run through me. I moaned, I actually _moaned_. We all broke out in laughter. I took another bite. It was heaven. We sat and talked about everything; we joked back and forth and complained about school. It was great to be with my friends. I just felt so, so normal.

"I got an idea," Rachel said. She reached in her purse and pulled out a camera. "I had this for the ceremony."

After we explained to Ax what a camera was and that the flash would not cause his eyes to disintegrate we bunched together in the table and smiled as Rachel held the camera in front of us and snapped a picture. I was happy she did it. I wanted to remember this night. I wanted to remember this night for a long time.

"Oh," Cassie said suddenly looking at her watch. "I have to go. I'm supposed to help my dad with a possum we found yesterday."

"Yeah, I need to go too," Jake said "I have to write a makeup paper for the makeup paper for the essay I was supposed to do for the English test I flunked."

"I have to write that paper too, but you don't see me in a big hurry to go home and do it." Marco said.

"You'll just write on the bus."

"And I'll still get a B!"

We all laughed as we walked outside. Cassie had the farthest to travel to her farm, so we found a safe place her to morph to owl and fly away. Then Ax demorphed and morphed to harrier, then flew back to his scoop. The four of us walked together until Jake and Marco had to turn down another street. Now it was just me and Rachel.

"How much time do you have in morph?" She asked me.

"About thirty minutes." I replied.

"Good," Rachel said, "come walk with me."

As we got closer to her house Rachel suddenly stopped and looked at me. "Tobias, I just need to say this. Are you sure you want to stay a hawk? Are you absolutely positive?"

"Rachel look," I said, "I've been out of the fight for too long. Now that I'm back, I'm not going to leave again."

"But you could be human again!" she practically yelled. "You wouldn't have to live in a tree and eat rats! You could have a normal life again!"

"Rachel if…" I took a deep breath. "If something every happened to you that I could have stopped if I had stayed a hawk and kept my morphing powers, I would never be able to forgive myself."

"Are you doing this for me? Why…" Rachel paused for a minute. "Why do you care so much?"

"I don't know okay!" I said maybe a little too loudly. "I just do, okay."

That was the truth. I really didn't know why I cared so much. I didn't know why I felt such a connection with Rachel. Even when I first became trapped she would always listen to me. I always thought she just felt sorry for me, but after a while that feeling went away and was replaced by something I still hadn't identified. Rachel suddenly grabbed my hand.

"But Tobias," she said, almost pleading. "If you were human you could be with as a normal teenager again. You could be with… me."

That's when I knew. I knew what that feeling was. I knew what I had tried to keep inside for so long. It suddenly came to me, so clearly. Oh man, I come I didn't see it before. Oh right, I was a _bird_ at the time. But right now I could be the old me again, even if it was only for a short time. Right now I had legs and arms and a mouth.

I put my hand on Rachel's cheek, it was very warm. She put her hand over mine and leaned on my arm and moved closer to me. We were less then an inch apart. I stared into her bright blue eyes and I acted quite quickly. I pulled her face to mine and kissed her on the lips,

It was a second I'll never forget.

I pulled away quickly and looked a Rachel. She was little surprised, but then she smiled. She pulled me to her and kissed me passionately, in a couple seconds I was kissing her back. I felt her arms wrap around my shoulders and put my hands on her back. We stood in the street wrapped in each others arms, totally absorbed in what we were doing. It seemed to last forever, but that was still to short a time. Rachel pulled away first and I looked deep into her eyes, and I knew she felt the same way I did.

"Wow." Rachel said, a little out of breath.

"Wow" I agreed.

There was on an awkward silence. "Well, that happened." I said.

"That definitely happened," she said. "Good thing you don't have a beak anymore."

"Now that would have just been weird." I said with a laugh. I suddenly remembered the time. "Rachel I have to demorph, it almost been two hours."

She nodded her head and I reluctantly released my hold on her. I smiled and shifted my mind to my hawk body, but before I started to change Rachel grabbed me and kissed me again, it was quicker this time and then she rested forehead on mine.

"Thank you Tobias," she said, "For doing this for me."

I smiled. "No Rachel, thank you." I said then I kissed her again and took a step back. I focused on the hawk I returned to the body I'd been stuck in for so long. Rachel held up her arm and I hopped up onto it.

"Just don't tell Marco," Rachel said. "We'll provide him with enough material to last a lifetime."

I won't if you won't I said with a laugh.

Then I flew back to my meadow and I spent the night having some great dreams. I didn't see Rachel again until the night of the next day. Her parents insisted on taking her out for diner. I flew into her room as I saw the car pulling into the driveway. As I waited I saw something new on Rachel's desk. It was the picture she took of us at McDonalds, she got it developed and put it in a frame. I heard her walking up the stairs and I turned to her door. Rachel came in with a huge smile. She knew I would be there. I morphed to human and I took Rachel into my arms. I was wrong before, about the Big Mac.

This was heaven.


End file.
